10 Fun Ways For Kids To Learn Mandarin

Introducing your kids to Mandarin is a fantastic approach to getting them ready for the future! It’s always a great advantage for your child to learn a new language. If you’re already onboard, you’re probably not thinking so much about ‘why your child should learn Mandarin’, rather you’re wondering about ‘how’ or ‘what’ is the ideal method to get your kids to learn it. This would be even more challenging if you do not speak Mandarin yourself.

Let’s look at some fun and interactive activities you can do with your kids to learn Mandarin more effectively.

1. Storytelling

Storytelling and listening to it are both enjoyable activities for kids. Introduce your kids to Mandarin-language books that have engaging narratives. Learning Mandarin becomes more organic this way and isn’t just a matter of memorising words.

2. Role-playing

Children can practise Mandarin interactively, especially conversational Mandarin, by acting out real-life and everyday scenarios like supermarket shopping or phone conversions. By taking on the part of another character, your child can gain an understanding of many viewpoints. There are also several advantages to role-playing for your kid, including:

• Development of social and communication skills
• Teamwork through collaborative learning
• Learning to be empathetic

3. Singing songs

Singing is an excellent way for some children to advance in their Chinese education, especially if they really enjoy music. It would be great to teach them several simple Mandarin songs and assist them in grasping some of the vocabulary simultaneously. Most kids would enjoy this activity because most children’s songs have words and phrases that refer to toys or animals.

4. Flashcards

For years, teachers have used flashcards to help kids learn just about everything. Making physical flashcards by yourself is a relatively simple process. To help your child recall various terms and their translations, take some index cards and pencils, write a word in English on one side and pinyin on the other, add some images if you’d like, and use the cards.

Combine five or six simple, basic words. Allow your youngster time to read them, say it out loud, and so on. Ensure they have a basic understanding of tones. After that, start presenting them with each flashcard individually to see whether they can connect the characters to the Chinese text and English interpretations. Give them a minute or two between each card to prevent children from becoming overwhelmed or irritated.

5. Guessing the word

Since most youngsters prefer what they can see over what they can hear, it will be entertaining to ask your child to predict a word based on the form of your mouth. You need to move your lips to provide information about a specific Chinese word; you are not allowed to make any noises while doing this.

Since it can be challenging to determine what the answer could be, especially for words that are not frequently used, some kids might consider this a challenge.

6. Watching cartoons

Cartoon programming is an unavoidable aspect of children’s lives. Even though most authentic Chinese cartoon series include a lot of complex words, there are still some cartoon TV shows that are simple to follow and are great tools for teaching kids Mandarin.

7. Tracing Chinese characters with surrounding objects

Small objects can be used to trace Chinese characters for children ages three and older who have moved past the mouthing stage. Use any materials on hand, such as scrap paper, leaves, seeds, pom poms, little stickers, and small rocks.

Enter the focus word directly into Pages or Microsoft Word by typing it in or copying and pasting it. Change the font to KaiTi and enlarge it as much as you can. Then you can ask your kids to trace the Chinese characters by sticking the materials provided.

8. Action cubes

Use action cubes to teach your child Mandarin while getting their bodies moving and making them laugh. The player is required to see, hear, and act out the words in this game. It takes around 5 minutes to print, cut, and glue the action cubes together. There are printouts in both Traditional and Simplified Chinese.

9. Tactile Chinese characters

Making tactile Chinese characters with puffy paint or glue will enable kids to engage with each stroke of the characters. When the glue or paint is dry, it is intriguing to touch and can help your child memorise the Chinese character.

10. Word football

For kids in preschool, elementary, middle, and even high school, the sight word football is a fun reading game. Games are a low-stress technique to sneak in reading practice since kids naturally enjoy running about and playing.

All you have to do is write Chinese characters on some index cards and stick the cards to cones. Call out the Chinese words and tell your kids to kick the ball to the cone with the word you called out.

Kids Can Learn Mandarin Effectively When They Are Also Having Fun

Lack of enjoyment is the greatest barrier to learning a new language. This issue can be solved, and the learning process can be made more kid-friendly and enjoyable by putting these entertaining and engaging methods of learning Mandarin into practice.

Additionally, it’s critical to remember that everyone has a unique learning style and that no strategy is “one size fits all.” Experimenting with various methods is the best way to determine which approach works best for your child.